Friday, February 11, 2011

I was on my facebook and i found this note. It brought tears to my eyes, took me back to my high school days. The tragedy that happened Tuesday afternoon will never leave my heart. I can't imagine what those seniors saw and felt. The families who lost loved ones i can only pray for them and help them be strong. Our town, Ackerman is a strong one. When one falls, we come together to help pick them back up again. Please read this note below, i hope you enjoy it and would appreciate your prayers for my hometown, the families, and the seniors.

Thank you & Hope you all have a Wonderful night!-Kerry

Ackerman, MS - The things you don't know from the news

1. There are four parts to the town, and 0 traffic lights. The north side has gas stations, the grocery store, pharmacies, Bumpers, and a couple of churches. The west side has a factory, homes, and a couple of churches. The south side has the elementary school, the lake, and a couple of churches. The east side has the football field, the hospital, town hall, the county courhouse, main street, the high school, and a couple of churches. Ackerman is the home to Governors J.P. Coleman and Ray Mabus, and Ricky Woods, football coach extraordinaire. You can decide who we're most proud of.

2. The photo in the news of the white building with the blue doors and the black ribbons is "The White Building". The office is inside on the first floor. In 1994, the building burned, but it was restored. There is also an old auditorium building that has the oldest wooden chairs you've ever seen, and a cafeteria building. I'm guessing you can figure out what is there. They all surround a big grassy area where everyone congregates in the same spot every morning, every break, and every pep rally. Those blue doors that are in the picture face the practice field and the parking lot where we all met at our first vehicles to talk after school. I'm willing to bet students still meet there.

3. 54 seniors is (probably) the entire class. My class graduated about 60. Most of us had been together since kindgergarten. There is not a private school in the county, so almost everyone goes to the public school for thirteen years.

4. Those teachers did not just love and know those students. They went to church with them. They went to football games with them. The teachers and the students share something bigger than a classroom or a school. They share a community.

5. Today, law enforcement officers kept the media away from that campus. The town decided that their students needed a day to lean on each other and not deal with paparazzi. That community wraps its arms around each other fast, and they hold on tight. By tomorrow morning, this tragedy will begin to fade from the paper. There will be bigger, better news. However, the town and the high school will never be the same. Neither will any of the children that experienced it, or the people that love them both.

6. As an outsider, the only thing you can do is pray for them. People in small towns are wary of new comers, so no one will be interested in your advice or your opinion on the situation. Nothing anyone says or does will change what has happened. Please, pray for them anyway. As a community, they are the most faithful people I have ever known.

7. Ten years ago, I was getting ready to graduate and counting the days until I left. On graduation day, one of my favorite teachers said, "Look around, you will never all be together again." For once, I did what she said. I looked around before we marched onto the stage. Ten years later, we've lost three classmates. Although miles and time have seperated us, a small part of my heart was buried with them. For better or worse, we all survived high school together. We supported each other through winning seasons and lost championships. We lit fires in fields to hang out. We drove back roads too fast. We found trouble and we found faith. We celebrated the good and we survived the bad. If any of my classmates ever needed anything, I would be there. If they didn't know that already, they do now.

7. A few of the seniors will leave Ackerman in August and never come back. Some of them will leave, but come back once or twice a year to visit. Others will come back to settle down and raise a family. Their children will attend AHS. It does not matter how many miles the seniors put between themselves and the city limits, the roar of the football field, the sound of the late bell, or the altar of their church, Ackerman will always be a part of who they are. I hope it does not take them ten years and two tragedies to realize they will leave part of their heart behind.

I hope the students at AHS can feel the power of the prayers coming from anyone that ever walked the halls of those buildings. Apparently, you become a Bulldog, a Rebel, or even a Major, but you never stop being an Indian.